By Francis Ajuonuma
After several months of inaction, the Super Falcons will have their hands full this week as they compete in the 2021 Turkish Gold Cup kicking off on February 15- 24 in Istanbul.
The nine-time African champions are drawn in group B alongside Equatorial Guinea and Uzbekistan and will open their campaign in the tournament on February 20 against Uzbekistan.
Ranked 37th in the last FIFA rankings, the Super Falcons on paper look too good to overrun the Asian women, seen as underdogs in this encounter,s going by their past performance at international tournaments.
Super Falcons arrive Turkey, trains ahead of Antalya Cup –Twitter
However, with five Asian Continental Championship appearances and One Central Asian Football Association Women’s Championship title in their kitty, the Uzbeks, now ranked 41 in the world, could prove a hard nut to crack for the Super Falcons who are competing in the championship for the first time, unlike their counterparts who finished 4th at the 2019 edition.
Three days later, the Nigerian ladies will face vengeance seeking Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea, hoping to consolidate their position in Group B.
Interestingly, this encounter offers the Guineans an opportunity to address a 6-0 spanking by the Nigerians in the group phase of the 2018 Women Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ghana.
Meanwhile, Super Falcons head coach, Randy Waldrum, had last week called up 23 players for the tournament which will serve as part of the preparations aimed at putting up a formidable Super Falcons squad ahead of the 2023 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Some of the players invited for the tournament include Tochukwu Oluehi and Chiamaka Nnadozie, Onome Ebi and Chidinma Okeke, Rita Chikwelu, Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene, Halimatu Ayinde, Gift Monday, Rasheedat Ajibade and Asisat Oshoala.
The Falcons will aim to become the first African side to triumph at the tournament, following the third-place finish by Ghana’s Black Queens last year. Chile won the trophy and Hungary came in as the runner-up.
Poland (2017) and France (2018 and 2019) are the other previous winners of the Alanya Gold City Cup.
